Short answer first, because I know you're on a mission: choose the earrings before you choose the outfit. Whatever you put on last decides the mood, and once you know that, you can run your whole wardrobe on three settings. I call them classic, fashion and statement.
I used to get dressed like a normal person. Clothes first, jewelry as an afterthought, a quick look in the mirror, mild regret by lunch. Then I noticed that every outfit I got a compliment on had one thing in common, and it was never the jeans.
The clothes tell people where you're going. The jewelry tells them what kind of mood you're in.
Classic mode
This is the diamond studs, plain knit, hair back version of me. It's quiet and a little polished, the kind of look nobody can quite describe but everybody trusts. I use it for the meeting where I want to be taken seriously and the dinner where I want to be remembered without trying. One small point of light at the ear, nothing competing with it. Diamonds on a quiet day say everything.
Fashion mode
Fashion mode is where I stop being sensible. Hoops with a shape, a chain with some weight, a ring with opinions. The clothes can stay simple, and honestly they should, because the piece is doing the talking. It's my Friday mode, my gallery-opening-I-wasn't-sure-I-was-invited-to mode, and my the-coat-is-boring-and-I-refuse-to-be mode.
Statement mode
Statement mode is one piece, and only one. A wide cuff, a collar that sits at the base of the neck like it pays rent there, earrings that move when you do. My rule is simple: if the piece is loud, everything else whispers. Black knit, tailored trousers, nothing with a pattern, and let the piece have the room.
The ten-second switch
The best part about modes is that you can change them without changing your outfit. Same black turtleneck, same trousers. In the morning it's studs, classic. After work I swap in the hoops, fashion. For dinner the collar comes out of my bag, statement. Nobody has ever noticed that the outfit stayed the same. They noticed that the mood changed.
How to pick your mode
If you're not sure, start with classic. If you're bored, go fashion. If you feel like being looked at, statement. And if you want all three, that's what the bag is for.